To anyone who celebrates it, Happy Easter. To anyone else Happy Zombie Jesus day? 😛
Anyway, here’s a brief “monthly” update, since I haven’t done a real one in a while. I’ve still not had a whole lot of time to work on Sylverant lately, but there have been a few revisions along the way since the last sorta-update. Here’s what’s changed since the last real monthly update, way back in January:
- Allow the ship configuration XML to specify the ship’s address and the shipgate’s address by a FQDN instead of an IP address.
- Add some configuration parameters to the ship configuration for Blue Burst parameter and map enemy data.
- Checked in a few changes to the PSO Patcher that for some reason slipped through the cracks (stuff that’s actually completely unrelated to PSO).
- Added parsing/use of the Blue Burst map enemy data, which makes killing enemies actually give experience. No drops are done yet.
- Fix an issue with the Word Select parsing when dealing with messages about Meseta and item quantities.
- Send blank C-Rank data about V1 and BB clients to V2/PC/GC, which fixes the odd issue with V1 players appearing to have a really high C-Rank.
- Fix an issue with the experience calculation on Blue Burst for players who hit an enemy, but don’t kill it.
- Fix an issue with the enemy hit subcommand on Blue Burst not being sent along to clients.
- Fix an issue with joining a game on Blue Burst.
- Cleaned up some issues reported by Valgrind’s memcheck tool.
- Fix the play timer on Blue Burst.
As you can see, its mostly a bunch of small things (and a few big things) regarding Blue Burst. This is kinda forcing me to actually implement some backend stuff for some of the features for other versions that I’d like to do at some point, so its definitely not a bad thing for everyone who can play on Sylverant. Hopefully, we’ll start seeing the fruits of some of that for V1/V2/PC sometime soon. 🙂
Oh, and before anyone asks, no, I’m not giving instructions on how to play Blue Burst on Sylverant just yet. Its still not really all that useful, since there’s still a LOT missing (enemy/box drops, rare enemies, quests, team support, etc), so I’d rather not open up that can of worms yet. I may look for some people to help test at some point (there have been a few people who have offered already), but right now I think I’m fine with what I have.
Always a pleasure to know the server’s being improved. Keep up the great job! Hopefully we’ll see some more BB support in the future revisions. I wonder what V1/V2/PC features you have in mind…Thank you.
It’s a secret to everybody…
Well, almost everybody. 😛
“At least I know I’m generating the right weapon types now…”
I smell server drops in the air… 😀
I wonder what they smell like… Hopefully not bad, right?
OMG! 2012 is going to be an awesome year here on Sylverant! This is fantastic news!
In what way will these drops affect players? is it an event? is is something else? because legit players must have the right to play legit.
When the time comes, make sure you advertise how things work, i’m not sure how this will be implemented, but all drops that do not correspond to the drops in the game disk will not be alowed in legit marked games.
I don’t think Some players will like the fact they will be forced to play with players that got the items because the server alowed it in some way.
We have plenty of time to think about it so no worries, but you know my position.
First off, for everything except Blue Burst, server-side drops will be optional, of course. If you’re playing on Iselia, there’s actually a way to enable them as the code stands at the moment (but I’m not saying how one would go about doing that right now, since its not done). In fact, if you look at the second page of the info reply on games at the lobby desk, you’ll see a “Drops: Client” or a “Drops: Server” in there now to say which way drops are handled.
Second, I’m implementing them as close to how the game itself does it as possible, using the same data files as the game itself does. Effectively, I always saw this as a way to further enforce legitness. I understand that some people may not feel that way, but I am the one writing the server after all. 😉 For instance, lets say that someone is playing in a legit mode game, and they become party leader. They’ve hacked up their drops data file so that it drops things with higher grind values and higher percentages than normal (but still within the legit-checker’s tolerance). All of the people who pick up those items would (by the way some people see it) be non-legit. The server-side drops system would prevent that from happening at all by forcing the server to handle what items get dropped (including percentages and grind values and whatnot). One would assume that the server would be configured to whatever “legit” standards exist on that server. As stated, on Iselia, I’m using the exact same data files that the game itself uses, with no changes whatsoever.
That all said, I reiterate that server-side drops will be optional for every version of the game where the client can possibly handle them (although, the server configuration may be set up to force them, but I don’t intend to do that on Iselia). I’d like to think that people would use the new functionality for its benefits in preventing one client from having modified their data files and generating legit items in non-legit ways, but I know that some people will always be leery of any perceived slight difference between the way the game does it and how I do it.
It is (of course) also possible to set up “events” to have different drops and things like that in the future. This is relatively easy to do if you know how the data files work.
Anyone who’s as particular as you’ve described about playing with non-legit players probably shouldn’t be playing with the general population of pretty much any PSO server at this point. Its not like the people they’re playing with couldn’t have generated all of their items with a bankmod or somesuch like that (within the legit parameters). They would (for all intents and purposes) appear completely legit for pretty much any server-side check I could do. At that point, you just have to trust people. Just as I’d hope that people trust me to write the server in the appropriate way to encourage people to play the game.
Anyway… Now that this comment is pretty much larger than almost all the newsposts on the site, I guess I should cut it off. When the time comes to actually describe the way things work further, I will do so. This is not the time or place to do it, though.
But i apreciated it and i enjoyed the explanation that was given.
And yes you are right when it comes to the games, you don’t really know if the drops or if the items are normal since the leader commands everything.
In all reality doing that (making a legit game when the leader isn’t legit) will violate several rules, including exploiting the “verification” and tricking users into the game, so not only it isn’t pratical but may also get the user punished.
Obviously ppl will not do it but that doesn’t stop it from happening and your solution enforces it and i am pleased.
I have had some situations were players play in both types of games (wich becomes problematic because the items drop more frequently but whithin parameters and then they bring them into the legit games) and when they come the best i can do is exlain how things work and why they aren’t alowed or what they can do to enter.
Your way seems……effective, players won’t tag the game incorrectly and may prevent punishment if the user “didn’t know” about the rules.
Carry on.
It may be in “violation” of the rules, but its also pretty much impossible to check from the server side.
That said, there’s no difference between a “legit” game and a “normal” game for any purposes, other than the legit check when people join. I don’t see any problem when people play in normal games and legit games with the same character. There’s nothing inherently “non-legit” about a normal mode game. I’m not sure that’s what you were implying, but that’s how I read the comment…
I was impling that normal games alow certain mods and that sometimes ppl bring them to legit games, they want to play with everyone but realise a bit to late that they can’t, obviously i have no problems with normal games.
By both types of games i didn’t mean legit and normal, i meant games wich you play legit and games where ppl cheat.
Don’t you ever want to just say stfu kireek?
Nah. Everything he asked is stuff I would have expected to be asked at some point in the future. People are averse to change, after all — especially when they don’t understand it entirely.
Plus, it doesn’t really do me much good to scare away users when the userbase is so small already to start with. Better to get these initial explanations out of the way to clear up any misunderstandings before they start. That’s one thing I’ve found in working on Sylverant. 🙂
Mind you, there are times where I may disagree with something he says, sometimes quite strongly. Usually though, these are misunderstandings that get sorted out pretty quickly. The English language is a funny beast sometimes.
if anything his god awful attitude to anything that isn’t stonewall “legit” would probably scare more users away then telling him to just go jump off a pier. Better not tell him where some of the pt read data came from. He already considers me Beelzebub to the legit bs he has going on in his mind.
PSO antichrist signing off. 😛
Its already in the code for anyone to see. I don’t like to use other people’s knowledge without at least crediting them for it.
That said, there are at least a few other people who are probably bigger on the legit stuff than him around, and I don’t generally find them a problem to deal with. I always try to keep all conversations as cordial as possible. That’s just my nature, I guess. I’m almost always willing to hear all sides of a story, as long as the person on the other side is willing to hear my side as well.
I’d have been in big trouble in the place where I work by now if it weren’t for that mindset. 😛
well i usually get a lot of flack from these people because of the information and tools i provided for things like the modifications ives made to v2, or for continuing to drive on to add to and change things in the games, adding items to psobb etc (can actually do that to v2 with some limitations).
The way I look at it is without such information, PSO would have been dead long ago. Plus, its impossible to make an open-source PSO server without giving away that knowledge, at least to a degree. Also, at this point, its pretty much impossible to write a PSO server without some of the knowledge from those that did so before — even if its only indirectly obtained knowledge.
In writing a server and maintaining it and such, I always play a bit of a balancing act. I try to balance the feelings of those that would like to see the game extended and modified and such with those that would like to see it left alone. That way, everyone can play they way they want to. With as small of a community as I have here, that’s a relatively easy task. I’d also like to think that as long as any new features are added as “optional” that nobody would feel that I have unilaterally acted against them. Those that wish to use the new features can enable them. Those that don’t can disable and avoid them. It’s as simple as that. 🙂
This is also the beauty of the open-source approach from my mind. If someone REALLY feels that I’ve acted against them, they could always fork the code and maintain their copy without it and run their own server if they felt the need to. Sure, that’s not an easy task with a codebase that was written by someone else (especially me, as I really hate writing documentation), but it certainly is possible to any relatively decent C programmer, I think.
I think that the people here understand these things, at least I’d hope that they do.
@lee (for once not “representing” schthack)
This ain’t schthack or pso palace, where 1 opinion is shared and everyone agrees because they are afraid of getting looked down or worse, i have plenty of examples if you need them.
If anything i need to know details on how things work because as a GM and player i need to know what i’m getting into and what are the other players getting into, i also need to transmit the information properly, this way the overload of questions can be distributed by the several members and players.
I try (along with others) to explain every situation i can, including legit issues, i have to explain to ppl why they are not alowed or why they are alowed, the difference in ships,….
This way bluecrab isn’t the only one that replies to all of these questions over and over again.
My view is a concern that affects lot’s of players, i can’t simply ignore them because “you don’t like it”
So far, my methods have pleased both legit and non legit players so that everyone can play in the server without causing anoyance to each other, if it is working then i’m going to change it.
My recomendation when in the server is to try and direct users with questions to a GM or anyone that knows about the subject, i fear that your atitude combined with false or incomplete info may do more damage then good (wich i may have to fix afterwards), so leave those details with us, we know what were doing.
If you have a problem, you can always try contact bluecrab or the dc-talk administration if you feel that my methods are causing problems (if they exist at all).
Ppl here think for themselves , we need to comunicate and i made my poit of view publicly because i ain’t afraid and because i believe that my view is shared by other users, so bluecrab reply is by all effects a reply to several players.
I had legitimate questions, just because you don’t like it then that doesn’t mean i can’t do them, or anyone for that matter.
If you are trying to get me in trouble, well good luck with that.
why do you show concerns when you don’t know what is the deal here?
@bluecrab
He is unaware of what legit players need and want, that’s why it was the wild west at schthack with no concern with players and with no support of any kind.
Schthack also tries to delete or lock all debates regarding legitimacy and lee failed to realise this isn’t schthack and that i consider debates essential in understanding everyone’s mind.
Lee is atempting to trool me or misguide you bluecrab, be carefull.
I’d really rather this not turn into some sort of fight. Nobody ever claimed this was schthack, nor do I think anyone wants that outcome either. Each server has its own set of rules and its own way to go about its business. How I run things here works great for our small community, but would likely fall flat on its face in a community the size of schthack. I have not been on the server at schthack in quite a while, but I know I never ran into problems when I played there. That said, any disagreements with how they run things don’t belong here, and I think that everyone involved can accept that and realizes that.
That all said, the information provided by Lee (and indirectly provided by him by way of the Tethealla source code, where it is my understanding that he provided all of the information to Sodaboy to implement this stuff there) is really the only reason I could implement the stuff I’m working on at all — in the correct and game-appropriate way, anyway. Yes, it took some extrapolating from the information I had to start to get things working for v2, but it was just that — extrapolating. Without the information in Tethealla (and elsewhere), I would have likely spent a whole lot of time designing a completely new drop system that would have ended up working nothing like the one in PSO itself. Would anyone have accepted that new drop system as legitimate and producing legit weapons? Everything would have ended up being different, so I’d be likely to believe that no they wouldn’t.
TL;DR: Everyone has their own opinions on how things should work. People disagree, that’s human nature. I’m happy to accept information from pretty much anyone if it helps make Sylverant a better place.
*if it is working then i’m not going to change it.
“Those that wish to use the new features can enable them. Those that don’t can disable and avoid them. It’s as simple as that.”
QFT. I think there’s room for everyone as long as people respect each others way of playing.
One last word for everyone:
-Lee, keep up the good job bringing us ways to extend the game;
-Crab, keep up the awesome job with the server;
-Kireek, keep up making nice skins.
And remember guys, Sylverant’s “The Happy PSO Server”! 😀
Hehe, thanks, i have done one actually, a new title screen already avaiable 😀
On most pso servers now kireek is known for being the troll he is. He doesn’t start legitimate debates, he tries to enforce his play style and opinion on others and just trolls them when he doesn’t get his own way. Usually ends up on them kicking or temp banning him anyway.
He was perm banned from the schtserv forum for doing exactly this, starting up witch hunts and legitimacy wars, he had this hypocritical list which would name people he considered cheaters, which included people using enhancements by Ives, he would cause trouble in game, entering peoples games and acting like he was some kind of member of staff demanding the history of all their items, when asked to remove the list and to stop harassing people in game he refused. He really isn’t the sort of person you want anywhere near a server.
Also this made me lol:
“I fear that your atitude combined with false or incomplete info may do more damage then good (wich i may have to fix afterwards), so leave those details with us, we know what were doing.”
He’s already trying to troll now saying the information i extract from the games data is false and that he will have to “fix”. Most of which is so far above his level he wouldn’t understand it anyway.
Might as well waste bluecrabs time more asking for more useless things like the idiot checker which is bypassed by anyone who wants to cheat anyway that the server can’t do anything about, yet complain about something that does actually stop client modification. It kinda shows how smart you really are.
I’ve personally never really had any sort of problem with kireek, other than one time where I probably misunderstood what he was trying to say. If I saw any sort of witch hunt list for Sylverant, the issue would be dealt with in the proper manner. I should hope it would never come down to that.
That’s all I’m going to say on that subject…
I don’t know if witch-hunt is the correct way to phrase this, but I have definately been harassed by him both in game and in PM, at sylverant. It was not a pleasant experience. And yes it is extremely difficult for me to understand his English most of the time, too.
Any issues with any players should be discussed with me, in private, and I will work to deal with any issues. If you’d like to discuss matters further, you should PM me on one of the many forums I frequent.
Making vague comments like this one doesn’t really serve any purpose, as it doesn’t give me any information on which to base any sort of decision.
That said, I feel that this thread has gotten a bit out of control at this point… Thus, I’m closing comments here for now.